Sleepless in Seattle (1993) – Miniview

I’ve been trying to watch some older classics recently and today I came across Sleepless in Seattle on Netflix. Not knowing anything about it other than it’s a bit of a romantic comedy, I decided to give it a watch with no expectations heading in whatsoever. For all its ooey gooey cheesiness, Sleepless in Seattle is actually quite entertaining and had all the elements of a solid romance movie. Thanks to Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan’s undeniable chemistry, the movie is delightfully charming with all the right notes of a love at first sight romance.

What I found particularly interesting about this movie is that despite the story being about Ryan’s character, Annie, falling in love with Hank’s character, Sam, the two actually have minimal screen time together. From start to finish, I’d safely guess they show up together for maybe 1% of the movie. Yet what’s so magical about this is that the movie manages to make you invested in their “will they, won’t they” relationship. Will they meet at the top of the Empire State Building on Valentine’s Day? Will they have that connection the movie is hinting at? All of this build up could’ve easily fallen apart and ruined the whole movie had Hanks and Ryan not shown such a beautiful and real chemistry as they did.

In a way, Sleepless in Seattle was much more about character development and seeing Sam and Annie overcoming their struggles than actually seeing the couple together. Yes, there’s romance and dreamy thoughts about love, but most of the movie takes place in two separate locations. Half of the movie follows Annie, and the other half follows Sam. Reminiscing about his late wife, Sam’s story is about learning how to open up and find love again. Annie on the other hand, has to choose between her not so perfect match, Walter, and her fantasies of falling in love with Sam. (Quick aside, Walter was a real one for not throwing a fit when he learned Annie was emotionally cheating on him)

While the romance was sweet and had all the unrealistic expectations that I love in rom coms, my favourite part of the movie was Sam’s son, Jonah. As a real “speaks his mind,” outgoing kind of kid, Jonah really took the spotlight and made the movie all the more charming and funny. His interactions with Sam provided most of the comedy and I loved seeing their loving yet childish dynamic. In a way, Jonah’s really the one that gets the pot stirring and this whole love story starts because of his impeccable intuition that Annie is the one.

My favourite thing about watching older movies is that they can be cheesy but get away with it. Sleepless in Seattle was a perfectly enjoyable watch that settled my craving for a new rom com. It’s a wholesome and innocently adorable story led by great performances from Hanks and Ryan (and Ross Malinger who plays Jonah!). I genuinely had a good time watching this movie and with that, I’m going to give Sleepless in Seattle a 7.5/10. If you’re wanting a bit of light-hearted fun, this one is a great choice to check out.